Capturing emotions and expression in portrait painting throughout the centuries.

We tend to think of the history in terms of a few individual geniuses, acting as teachers for a number of small subsequent groups of artists, but the Impressionists were entirely different. They chose to develop their craft as equals, painting and learning from one another in small groups. One of the legacies of Impressionism is to leave the viewer with a profound sense of life captured on the canvas, through motion, light and colour. De Santis 6 And also life lived by these remarkable artists, always seeking to experience and to learn, to better capture on the canvas the reality before their eyes. When you look at the history of Impressionism, it makes you realize how tastes change, and an art that we, today, can easily enjoy and appreciate, could seem crude and controversial and undisciplined to its first viewers.

Moreover, the images presented in Gehrke’s collection are intertwined capturing the urgency to paint, the transcendence of the artist from their body, as painting is an out of body experience, but also maintains the humanity of the artist’s by examining the fascination of the human body, medical crises and emotional turmoil. Michelangelo’s Seizure by Steve Gehrke explores ekphrasis poetry through crisis, whether that be the medical ailments of the artists, or the psychological and emotional associations for the artist. The poems, specifically “Self-Portrait Monet” and “Late Self-Portrait Rembrandt” are presented through emotional terms, associated not only with the circumstances influencing each artist, but the internal crisis and life consuming desire to paint what they see, experience and felt, to echo back and remember things passed. In fact, the poems “Self-Portrait Monet” and “Late Self-Portrait Rembrandt” pay lyrical homage to artists’ work and biographies, the remembering of love, seeing their wives die and trying to catch their lost images on canvas. Gehrke as a poet tries to explain the thoughts of an old man reflecting on his life.

Through what we have studied of the artist, we know that he sees various things in his own painting. He sees some figures, along with a castle and somewhat of a landscape. The artist chooses these mediums to try and express to us what he is feeling. There are a lot of jumbled images in this painting, all of which have the power to symbolize to us, the viewer, of the painter’s own inner feelings and emotions. Kandinsky’s paintings often reflected the things that were going on in his own life at the time.

Stephen Prina uses all of these different elements to create an image that reflects an image of a photograph but in all actuality it is painting/drawing. But by using different types of materials and focusing on photography as being the basis he achieves what he wants from the audience, which is for them to think that this image is a photograph. Victor Burgin talks about this in his essay of “Looking at Photographs” that addresses that people are looking at images in a different way than they are use to which is what upsets him. That photography and image viewing is different and people need to realize this when coming in to a gallery space. By using various materials, Prina is addressing his concern with using materials that are not related to photography but having the actual art be a reflection of a photograph.

Ken Ellis originally used oil has his medium in his artwork; however, when he started to use fabric dye his connection to his work changed. Ellis states, “working with the fabric dyes, needle & thread I feel as though I'm working WITH the piece as oppose to working ON a piece with paint, this makes me feel more at one with the piece” (Featured Artist Ken Ellis, 2013). Ellis’s deep connection to his work increases the transparency and intent the artwork portrays. As a result, the credibility of the Ellis’s artwork increases. The intent of Ellis’s work is to show the unique cultures that exist in the world and the important moments in history.

I believed that Picasso renditions of this piece along with others to put his own style on it. He does this with a lot of paintings. He makes his own rendition of other peoples paintings but with his style. He paints the picture the way he envisions it. He rarely keeps what was in the painting and just keeps a few things and then puts his own style on it.

The human condition describes the unique features of a human being; it separates us and at the same time relates us to other living creatures. In this essay I will study paintings that translate human emotion, body language and facial expression into paint, how moods have been communicated by the human face and the artist who knew how to do it the best. The idea of relating the human condition to art came to me when I started studying Edvard Munch and his history of isolation and darkness. I wanted to know why so many artists like him were somewhat disturbed not necessarily in a negative way, which led them to produce and what influenced them to create something different. The Mona Lisa 1503-1519 by Leonardo Da Vinci (Fig 1), The Scream 1893 by Edvard Munch (Fig 2) and the Weeping Woman with Handkerchief 1937 by Pablo Picasso (Fig 3) are some of the most recognizable pieces of art in the world.

Artists can use space to bring into focus objects in their artwork. Delacroix uses space to focus on his body in the portrait by removing all objects from the background of the image. Viewers are forced to move their eyes away from the mundane background and to ... ... middle of paper ... ...y actually be a choice that the artist has taken to better fit the theme of the artwork. Delacroix most likely used the broad brushstrokes used in the background and the clothing to show that the painting was not lifelike. He wanted to show that the painting was his creation that followed his style and personality.

He may just as easily prefer the piece to create tension with the viewer. In this case, the artist may elect to have the balance off enough to cause conflict for the observer. In either case, the composition was done with thought and premeditation. The observer’s eye will follow a path across the painting. The artist ... ... middle of paper ... ... is paramount that the artist plan how he will use color on his painting.

Differences between Photographic and Painted Portraiture In this essay I hope to define some of the fundamental differences between the above two methods. I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each as vehicles of portraiture. However, this is a very wide question and though it has great scope for deeper analysis, lack of words and space has prevented me from exploring each point in more detail here. When addressing this subject, I feel it is very important to recognise that artists have very different objectives when creating a portrait. For some, a portrait may simply be a study of physical likeness whereas for others it may be a study of the sitter’s character, their inner personality.